Marc-Andre Lelcerc and Brette Harrington Solo Colonel Foster’s East Face

Marc-Andre Leclerc and Brette Harrington have made quick work of Mount Colonel Foster, British Columbia’s famous Vancouver Island peak. They hiked in, soloed the 1,200-metre east face via Into the Mystic 5.10a, down climbed the rappel and hiked 13 kilometres out. Into the Mystic was first climbed by Chris Lawrence, Philip Stone and Corrie Wright in June of 1989. For route descriptions of the east face climbs see here.

Marc and I went for a team scramble up the East Face of Mt Colonel Foster yesterday. Another taste of good old Coastal Alpine including bush thrashing through the Alders, downclimbing the decent rappels, and making the long 13k hike back to the car after climbing the 1100m face. @arcteryx @mdre92 @julbousa #mtcolonelfoster #vancouverisland #climbing

A photo posted by Brette Harrington (@bretteharrington) on Jun 5, 2016 at 4:37pm PDT

“Such a cool mountain,” said Harrington. “We went full commitment, no alpine gear, no rope. We were on the island climbing at Horne Lake and only brought our sport climbing gear. I climbed the entire route in my aggressive Shammans. My feet were swollen.”

Mount Colonel Foster is one of Vancouver Island’s best alpine and rock climbing mountains. Standing at 2,135 metres above the island’s coastline, the peak was named after Colonel William Foster, who was a climber and member of the Alpine Club of Canada in the early 1900s.

The main peak was first climbed in 1968 by Mike Walsh from the north col up the Northwest Gully to fifth-class rock to the Northwest Peak. He downclimbed 200 metres of scrappy rock and continued to the Northeast Peak before traversing to the main summit. It was considered a bold solo at the time.

@bretteharrington taking a hot lap up the 1,000m east face of Colonel Foster on Vancouver Island. A fun outing although we were a bit late for supper.

A photo posted by Marc-Andre Leclerc (@mdre92) on Jun 5, 2016 at 9:56am PDT